Week 7 - What to look for in a Cloud provider

When looking at a Cloud provider, you will want to consider several things.

• You will want to know your business objectives for moving to the Cloud and communicate it to the vendor. The vendor will need to understand your objectives. They will need to take the time to listen to what you are wanting to accomplish and not just push their agenda.

• You will want to know the location of the Cloud provider’s data centers. This will take into consideration network bandwidth for your users. Also, if you are a global company, there will be regulations on where data can be hosted.

• You will want to know their security policies. The Cloud Security Alliance setup the Security Trust and Assurance Registry certification program. The Cloud providers go through a third-party assessment of the security of their facilities. If they “pass”, they will be listed in the CSA STAR registry. You will want to make sure that the vendor is in there.

• Look for a provider with success in the field. Do they have experience with companies your same size? Have they setup a similar type of cloud for another client? Do they have references that you can talk to?

• Other things to consider: Can you understand their Service Level Agreement? Do they have written processes and procedures? Are they willing to help with a pilot test?

https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Top-considerations-for-choosing-a-cloud-provider

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/tip/What-makes-a-good-cloud-provider

Week 6 - Things to consider

So, your ready to implement a cloud? There are things that need to be considered before you start bringing the cloud in to a business.

• Can your application run in the cloud? There can be licensing issues and network bandwidth issues if they are at a cloud provider.
• Do you need to be aware of any compliance regulations? If your company has any compliance regulations (like HIPAA or PCI DSS), you will need to make sure that the data you put there is able to reside there. There are usually specific regulations on how and where personal data can be stored.
• Have you done a business plan? You will want to include a cost analysis. Also, do an assessment of your business needs, your IT organization and your infrastructure. When you understand your current environment, it will make it easier to know what to move to the cloud.
• Have you worked on a migration plan? You will need to plan what applications can be moved, what you plan to move first. Sometimes, moving development and test environments to the cloud first, gives the company a chance to see if they want to continue moving everything to the cloud.

http://meship.com/Blog/2014/11/05/five-steps-implement-cloud-computing/

Week 5 - 6 Essential Characteristics of a Cloud

There are six main characteristics of the Cloud model.

1. Self-service - A user can create their own computing resources (software, operating system, or server) within minutes of deciding they need it. This can be done without any help from a technician, usually through a self-service portal on the web.

2. Standardized - Delivers functions and processes that are largely the same to multiple users, across multiple companies or enterprises, across many different industries, and in diverse geographies.

3. Access from Anywhere - A user can access the computing resources from wherever they need it as long as they are connected to the network or internet. This allows the usage from any device, such as cellular phones, tablets, desktops, or laptops.

4. Pay-Per-Use or As You Go - Users of the computing resources pay based on their use of the resource.

5. Shared Pool of Resources - Multi-tenant – a tenant is defined by the service model or type of cloud being used. (therefore can be either a department, organization, company, end user). Many clients can access the same Cloud, but they will be securely separated by the use of virtualization.

6. Can Scale Up/Down - Computing resources can scale up or down based on the users needs. This  can be based on triggers that will automatically scale up or down the resource.



https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2014/01/cloud-computing-defined-characteristics-service-levels/